Chemistry at Bennington

At Bennington we think learning science is doing science so from the
very first class in chemistry we call on students to think about
interesting questions and how they would answer them. Class is
conducted in seminar fashion with students asking questions and
discussing the topics. Students also read articles from the science
literature on topics of current interest such as:

Photodynamic
Therapy

The Super Iron Battery

Measuring the strength of a covalent bond

Antioxidant behavior of Vitamin E

Reduction of Chromium(VI) in soil

Discussion
encourages students to apply the ideas they are learning in class to
these current topics. Students are assigned to explore the current
literature for a topic they would like to write about in a paper and
present to the class in an oral presentation. This gives the whole
class an opportunity to see how society is affected by many current
applications of chemistry and how much they can understand even after
just taking introductory courses. Students also plan and carry out
research projects as part of the lab experience. Some topics that
students have chosen to investigate are:

Investigating
Silica content in horsetails

Using Iron to treat chlorinated solvents

An electrochemistry investigation of the antioxidant
properties of red wine, chocolate, and green tea.

Response of Diatom Populations to Different Concentrations
of Silicic Acid

We
offer a broad range of courses for all students at Bennington because
we believe that understanding science is essential for any liberal arts
education. The connection between chemistry and the arts - photography,
paints and pigments, ceramics - is a natural interdisciplinary match
and we look for creative ways for introducing these ideas on campus.
Some chemistry courses that have been offered:

General
Chemistry

Organic Chemistry

The Chemistry of Drugs and Natural Remedies

Environmental Chemistry

A Research Case Study : The Chemistry and Biology of
Vermont Ponds (with B. Sherman)

Research. I have two areas of research
interest: 1.) the chemistry of gold phosphine complexes similar in
structure to drugs used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, and 2.) the
different chemical environments in two groups of Vermont ponds, and the
effects of the organisms in each site.

Gold Research:Gold chemistry elicits
visions of alchemists with bubbling flasks in fantastic colors.
Sometimes I feel like that except that I take gold and transform it
into complexes that might be green, might glow orange under ultraviolet
light, or might be dull white. So I might be an anti-alchemist. Gold,
besides having an interesting history as the original noble metal, the
symbol of wealth and power, is very unique as an element. Its
properties, resistance to oxidation, malleability, conductivity, are
ultimately related to the arrangement of the electrons in the atom. But
gold, being a "heavy metal" is affected also by relativity related to
the speed of the electrons around the nucleus. This phenomenon has been
used to explain the density of gold, as well as the electronegativity
and the color. One goal is to learn more about the basic chemistry of
gold and its varied and increasingly complex structures.

I have been working with a series of gold phosphine
dinuclear compounds of the form, cis and trans
bis-diphenylphosphinoethylene gold(I)X:

These compounds exhibit interesting photochemical behavior:
they isomerize from cis to trans when they are exposed to light. We
want to know how changing the "X" ligand affects the isomerization and
if gold-gold interactions in these compounds is involved in this
chemical phenomenon. We particularly want to know if we can prove that
there are these interactions in solution and if they can be used for
self assembly applications.

Some of these gold compounds have phosphine-gold-thiol
structures that are similar to the gold arthritis drugs, Auranofin and
Myocrisin. In addition some of the dinuclear gold compounds have shown
some anticancer properties. It is not known why gold drugs are
effective but the versatility of bonding around these metals might play
a role. We are looking at the ligand substitution and electrochemical
properties of these compounds. We are interested in exploring the
chemistry of these compounds in order to better understand the next
generation of heavy metal drugs as well as gain insight into the
mechanism of physiological interaction. As part of our project we are
looking at the antimicrobial effects of these gold compounds.